Smallfoot Movie: Should You Take Your Kids?

My seven-year-old has been working very hard to reach a goal in school. He is one of those kids to whom not everything comes easy academically, and we work hard to motivate him to always try his best. As I looked through his Friday folder this weekend, I saw that he had hit it, after three or four weeks of working hard at home. “I’m so proud of you,” I said. “How do you think we should celebrate?” The child did not hesitate. “I want to go see Smallfoot!” he exclaimed.

You see, movies are his love language, and he always knows when there’s a new one coming out. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t dying to see Smallfoot. The previews left me unsure of whether it would be an act of parental torture or just some good family fun. So I had set my expectations low, but the kid earned it, so armed with my Movie Pass and with an early bird discounted rate for him, we set out Saturday morning to see Smallfoot.

Smallfoot movie review

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Reader, I am here to tell you that I was not at all disappointed. In fact, I loved Smallfoot, as did my little guy, and my almost 12-year-old. Should you take your kids to see Smallfoot? Well, it’s not going to be the end of the world if you don’t, but if you’re looking for a really fun family movie that you can all enjoy then I would say “definitely!”

Smallfoot centers around a lovable yeti named Migo (Channing Tatum) who is trying to prove the existence of humans. James Corden, who I cannot help but adore, plays the human in question— a down-on-his luck nature program TV host named Percy Patterson.

The story and dialogue are entertaining and move quickly. This movie certainly doesn’t leave you any time to get bored. And the music, well, that was a delightful surprise to me. I mean, I guess I should’ve figured with musical stars such as Common, Zendaya, and Corden, that the movie would be filled with great songs, but I wasn’t expecting it. Once again, expectations exceeded!!! The songs were tons of fun and really well done.

The movie also has some good moral lessons you can pass along to your kids. Percy Patterson is struggling with failing ratings and afraid he may lose his job as nature TV program host. He is considering trying to falsify the appearance of a yeti, just to get big ratings and save his career. However, his faithful producer, Brenda, is a voice of reason and integrity and won’t let him do it. Eventually, Percy learns some lessons and comes to see that Brenda was right all along, and that some things are more important than career success.

Another moral dilemma troubles Migo, the main character. When he discovers the Smallfoot, he’s forced to consider that the laws and rules that he’s grown up with in his yeti community may not actually be true and right. For the first time, he questions everything he’s ever been told and brought up to believe, and he receives some resistance for that. Migo has to decide whether or not to question authority when he finds out that authority has been deceiving him, or if he should just do as he is told, even though he knows it’s not right. There are a lot of good talking points for parents and children in this movie for sure.

All in all, my family gave this movie two thumbs way up. I definitely suggest you go see it if your family that likes to see movies in theaters, and if not you’ll want to get it when it becomes available to watch on streaming or DVD.

Did your family go see the Smallfoot movie this past weekend? What did you think?